Loki stepped lightly up the tiny, familiar stone steps, kneeling before Thanos as soon as he had reached him. Knowing better than to open his mouth, for once, he stayed still until the being before him was ready to speak. It felt like many achingly long minutes before the purple-skinned man turned to Loki and peered down at him with loathing and hatred.
"You failed us, Mischief-Maker," he sneered, his voice echoing sinisterly. "Your life will please my mistress well - or, rather, your death will."
He tensed, as if for an attack, but Loki's smirk stopped him.
"You grin at your own demise?"
"And here I thought you were clever," Loki cracked.
Thanos was furious, but Loki shook his head and held up a hand.
"Forgive me," he said. "But I thought you knew I did not come here to accept my death. I came here to promise you something much sweeter."
"What possible bargain could a beggar Prince make with me?" he said with disinterest. Loki was undaunted.
"You know of what I speak - you're not one to play stupid, it suits you ill."
"Say what you must or I'll strike you down now," Thanos snapped.
"The Infinity Gauntlet. And the gems."
"What of them?"
"Yours."
Thanos's chilling eyes sparkled with excitement.
"You have them?"
"Three, as of now. A fourth is to be mine before long. The other two and the Gauntlet are currently out of reach, but that is no matter."
"No matter? They have hardly any worth at all unless the set is complete. You are wasting my time."
He raised a fist, but Loki held up a hand once more, requesting his patience. Thanos looked bored and irritable, but Loki insisted.
"I have the gems of Soul, Space, and Mind. Soon to be mine is the Power gem."
At this Thanos froze, finally intrigued.
"How did you manage this?"
Loki revealed what he could to the being he was indebted to; now was not the time to hold back. He skimmed over the information on Lyanne, however; Thanos didn't need to know about that. It seemed, however, that Thanos was bemused by her.
"She betrayed her kind to follow you and help you collect these gems so that you might give them to me and destroy her planet?"
"Destroy Earth?" Loki asked incredulously. "I thought that was to be my realm."
"It was to be, castaway Prince. But you did not keep your deal - our army failed because you underestimated our enemy."
"A mistake not to be made again. And one that cannot be made again - not if you are in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet and the accompanying jewels. Then they would have no chance."
"No, of that you are right. Because I will destroy Earth, utterly and completely."
"Promise to give it to me once more and I will hand over the gems."
"You are not in a position to bargain!" Thanos roared. "You already owe too much!"
"Yes, but you are more than willing to pay the price of what I ask. The gems are worth a thousand times a thousand more than what I owe."
Thanos scowled, disgusted. But the scoundrel was right; the artifact was priceless.
"And I'm sure that a bauble as lovely as the fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet would be more than enough to hypnotize even the most lovely of women," Loki said slyly. "The mistress of whom you spoke would be most pleased."
Thanos sneered at him, but a dark shadow Loki had not noticed before suddenly stepped out from the darkness, its movements silky and eerily silent.
"I would be most pleased, indeed," said a husky, chilling voice. It was a woman's. And she was no ordinary woman. Thanos knelt before her, gazing up in - was it possible - adoration?
"God of Mischief," the otherworldly woman said, "Thanos will give you what you ask. Earth, and dominion over all who dwell there. You shall protect it - but in return, Asgard shall be ours."
Loki struggled internally for a moment before responding.
"What would become of Asgard?"
The woman snickered coldly, sending horrifying shivers up his spine, making his skin crawl and an icy hand grip his heart.
"The same fate that would have awaited Earth, had you not asked for control of it," she said.
"Could you not spare both?" asked Loki in a moment of weakness. He punished himself internally, but hoped regardless.
"No," she said. "Consider yourself very lucky indeed that we are allowing you a realm at all. If life were fair, I would kill you now, take your gems, and find the others myself."
"Then why don't you?" he challenged, but softly.
"I said if life were fair that is what I would do. But life isn't - Death is. Death is always just. From the lowliest peasant to richest king, from the foulest of fiends to the most benevolent of beings, they all face one fact - Death will claim them all. It is the most finite and inarguable of justice in all creation. Indisputable. Unbiased. Fair. That is why I will not kill you."
She stepped forward and revealed herself to be beautiful, but cold, frightening. Her white skin shone like a beacon in the darkness, her long black hair falling around her shoulders gracefully, curtaining her thin face and malevolently glittering eyes. Thanos clutched his chest in ecstasy.
"Mistress Death rewards those who play to that balance."
Loki nodded. His life, as well as that of the Earth, was recompense for offering the gems up willingly.
"What say you, Trickster?"
Loki glanced up at her solemnly. He thought he had known cold before, and fear, but as of that moment they were mere trifles of feelings, diminished and demolished utterly by the horrifying being before him, beautiful and deadly. He nodded slowly.
"I know you will keep your word," he said slowly, "And your offer is more than fair. You know I ask the protection of Earth as well as dominion over it and its beings, and you have agreed. I shall do all you ask."